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Breathlessly action-packed and boasting a winning combination of thrills, humour and mysticism, the Destroyer is one of the bestselling series of all time.

253 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

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About the author

Warren Murphy

294 books124 followers
Warren Murphy was an American author, most famous as the co-creator of The Destroyer series, the basis for the film Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins. He worked as a reporter and editor and after service during the Korean War, he drifted into politics.

Murphy also wrote the screenplay for Lethal Weapon 2. He is the author of the Trace and Digger series. With Molly Cochran, he completed two books of a planned trilogy revolving around the character The Grandmaster, The Grandmaster (1984) and High Priest (1989). Murphy also shares writing credits with Cochran on The Forever King and several novels under the name Dev Stryker. The first Grandmaster book earned Murphy and Cochran a 1985 Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original, and Murphy's Pigs Get Fat took the same honor the following year.

His solo novels include Jericho Day, The Red Moon, The Ceiling of Hell, The Sure Thing and Honor Among Thieves. Over his career, Murphy sold over 60 million books.

He started his own publishing house, Ballybunion, to have a vehicle to start The Destroyer spin-off books. Ballybunion has reprinted The Assassin's Handbook, as well as the original works Assassin's Handbook 2, The Movie That Never Was (a screenplay he and Richard Sapir wrote for a Destroyer movie that was never optioned), The Way of the Assassin (the wisdom of Chiun), and New Blood, a collection of short stories written by fans of the series.

He served on the board of the Mystery Writers of America, and was a member of the Private Eye Writers of America, the International Association of Crime Writers, the American Crime Writers League and the Screenwriters Guild.

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
Profile Image for Jeff J..
2,937 reviews19 followers
April 9, 2024
#84 in the Destroyer series. Remo & Chiun encounter a corrupt real estate developer and a group of misguided activists. Much chaos ensues, with a shocking conclusion.
1,262 reviews
May 21, 2025
Rating 3

Despite a cliff hanger ending and some entertaining parts, for me this was a very average entry to the series.
Profile Image for Little Timmy.
7,406 reviews60 followers
February 16, 2016
One of the big men's adventure series from the 70's than ran an impressive 145 books. The series while an adventure/action story is also full of satire toward much of the mainstream fads and icons of the time. An interesting main character and the sarcastic mentor makes this a funny action/adventure read. Sky Blue looks like a love child from the 60's but she plays with nuclear weapons and speaks in strange ways. Connors Swindell is a conman out for the biggest play of his illegal career. Together they cause the death of an entire town and that is just the start of their perfidy. CURE wants to make sure it is the last. Recommended
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews

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